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Storage tank for loco fuel (reasonably anonymous)

47137

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This is a freelance model of a small fuel tank, to go beside a loco refuelling point.

 

Plastic kits are easy to modify and to build into completely new models, but there is always a chance of the end result looking much like where it came from. I am thinking in particular of the old Airfix engine shed - it is a super kit, it is easy to build into all kinds of industrial buildings ... but however hard you try, the result always looks like an Airfix engine shed.

 

I have tried to butcher this model tank far enough to hide its origins:

P1010836.jpg.b3b1ef865475b8a94e07363dadf8f3ea.jpg

 

The bund is two layers of 2mm styrene, and the control box is a Faller fuel pump turned upside down with a bit of styrene to blank off its display. The tank supports and the ladder are from the Faller tank farm, and the outlet pipe is tinned copper wire.

 

For the paint job I settled on something reasonably jarring - red and blue. I think I can get away with this on such a small model:

DSCF0538.jpg.3040fc9729b897b2f564dd351379d81d.jpg

 

The bund is supposed to be concrete and for this I brushed on a thick coat of Humbrol gloss paint (a yellowy creamy colour) and sprinkled  talcum powder onto the wet paint. The gravel under the tank is a ballast from Woodland Scenics.

 

The ladder was a bit inadequate by modern standards so I cut this off and added a better one with an access platform and some handrails. These bits were also left over from Faller kits:

DSCF0551.jpg.3065bea2bc12a54be85a91a733f0e8be.jpg

 

I had glued the original ladder into grooves I cut into the side of the tank. I've hidden one groove with a no-smoking sign and filled the other with paint.

 

With a bit of luck, only the people who remember building the Airfix range in their teens and who choose to study the model for a while will see the stablemate of the engine shed in here.

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  • RMweb Gold
47137
  • RMweb Gold
5 hours ago, Gordon A said:

The ladder would not meet H&S requirements.

 

Yep - I need to try a bit harder. I would be happier with a stair and handrail, and a walkway something like this:

636442970_2015-09-1911_22.jpg.86bc4ffae30c6fa83ee3c8541a4597f7.jpg

 

Or possibly a vertical ladder with a cage.

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  • RMweb Gold
Mikkel
  • RMweb Gold

Nice work. I like how you've done and painted the bund and gravel.

 

We've never found a suitable name for this kind of project which combines scratchbuilding and selected kit parts. 'Kit bashing' maybe, but it's somehow a bit more than that. Did someone propose 'scritch building' once?

 

 

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TheQ

Looking at the signs on the doors,   I suspect that's not a house but a business maybe connected to the tanks. 

It's a good picture of crap parking..

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  • RMweb Gold
47137
  • RMweb Gold
29 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Nice work. I like how you've done and painted the bund and gravel.

 

We've never found a suitable name for this kind of project which combines scratchbuilding and selected kit parts. 'Kit bashing' maybe, but it's somehow a bit more than that. Did someone propose 'scritch building' once?

 

 

 

I'm happy with "kit bashing" - I think this activity will always need some infill parts you make yourself.

 

I often choose "made". I think this is the first time I've used "butcher"as the verb.

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  • RMweb Gold
47137
  • RMweb Gold
32 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Looking at the signs on the doors,   I suspect that's not a house but a business maybe connected to the tanks. 

It's a good picture of crap parking..

 

I think it's a lousy picture, but it was one of a series I took of the oil installation next to the harbour in Portree. To be honest, the view on Google Streetview is a lot better.

 

- Richard.

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TheQ

With the Big no smoking sign on it,  I recon that's the office for the fuel business. 

 

It's 39 years since the last time I went through Portree,  on the way to school... 

 

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold
47137
  • RMweb Gold
18 hours ago, Gordon A said:

The ladder would not meet H&S requirements.

 

How about this?

P1010948.JPG.59f03d7d5d71f13e71f50c9641ec95ba.JPG

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  • RMweb Gold
47137
  • RMweb Gold

I've not heard from Gordon A (who commented on the original ladder) but I've rebuilt the model and updated the blog post to suit.

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